Calendar

Take a musical voyage through the Solar System as Virginia G. Piper Music Director Michael Christie and The Phoenix Symphony perform Gustav Holst’s most popular composition, The Planets. Explore the astrological and emotional influence of seven planets from our solar system accompanied by the visual projections from “The Planets – An HD Odyssey” featuring HD images from the Mars Rovers, and other NASA and JPL footage from various missions.In addition, savor the world debut of a new, imaginative work that fuses harmonies of jazz and techno with the palette of orchestral electronic sounds – written by Mason Bates and commissioned by Dr. Judith G. and Edwin H. Wolf, –based on her collection of poems, “Weeping Shadows.”

About the commissioned work:
A cycle of hauntingly beautiful death poetry, "Afterlife" sets the words of Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, and contemporary Phoenician Judith Wolf with vivid musical detail and high drama. Scored for mezzo-soprano, orchestra, and electronica, the work looks through the eyes of both living and dead to explore the mystery and catharsis of departing.